Still sitting pretty

Sheryl the crow, nesting in glory outside theGuardian office. Photograph: Mark ApplinSam Wollaston provides the latest news on the crow nesting in the plane tree outside his office window, sending him and his fellow hack into a flap.

Not an awful lot going on today, or any other day. Sheryl sits on the eggs, Russell doesn't. He's not a bad sort though, he's not off chasing other tail feathers I don't think. In fact, crows often stay with their partners for life, apparently. As do emperor penguins and possibly albatrosses. Hey, the Farringdon crows could be adopted by the Christian right, like that penguin film was - they're a perfect advert for monogamy, morality and family values. Except that these are liberal crows obviously, or they'd be nesting outside another newspaper's offices.

Right now I can see Russell on a distant chimney - he likes to hang out on the highest points in the area, keeping a look out for hawks no doubt. Not that we get so many hawks round here. Police helicopters then. Or terrorists.

Sheryl occasionally sits up and has a little stretch of her wings. And she likes to change position. Sometimes she'll sit facing the pub, the Betsey Trotwood (though to her it's probably just the crow bar). And then she'll turn round to stare through the window at the comment desk, just to keep an eye on what's going into the Guardian's Comment and Debate pages. She has her favourite writers. Madeleine Bunting and Martin Woollacott, David Drake and Angela Eagle when they write. And Pretty Polly Toynbee of course. She'd like to see more from Lynn Sea gull, and John Hoopoe writing from Rome.

We - the new Guardian crow experts - reckon it'll be another ten days or so before the big event. The only worry is that the leaves on the plane tree are also bursting into life, and there's a worry that the crowlets may be obscured from view when they make their big entrance into the world. Any suggestions on ways round this problem would be very welcome.